"Soldiers of Misfortune" is the lead single

Lead single

A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 from Filter

Filter (band)

Filter is a rock group formed in 1993 in Cleveland by singer Richard Patrick and guitarist/programmer Brian Liesegang. Filter has released five studio albums, the most recent being The Trouble with Angels, which was released on August 17, 2010....

's fourth studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

, Anthems for the Damned

Anthems for the Damned

-Bonus tracks:The download version of the album included alternative mixes of tracks from the standard version as bonus tracks. Three additional tracks were included in the UK release of the album, which was retitled Soldiers of Misfortune, whereas only one extra track was included...

. It premiered on Myspace

Myspace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 on February 25, 2008 and was released to radio stations on March 18, 2008. "Soldiers of Misfortune" was added to Amazon MP3

Amazon MP3

Amazon MP3 is an online music store owned and operated by Amazon.com. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management from the four major music labels , as well as many independents...

 and iTunes

ITunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

 on April 29, 2008.

The song is described by singer Richard Patrick

Richard Patrick

Richard Patrick is an American rock musician. He is the frontman for the band Filter, a founding member of the supergroup Army of Anyone, and has served as a touring guitarist for Nine Inch Nails....

 as a "sardonic anti-war/pro-troops song." Its first-person narrative was inspired by a letter from Sgt. Justin L. Eyerly, a Filter fan who had enlisted in the Army National Guard

Military reserve force

A military reserve force is a military organization composed of citizens of a country who combine a military role or career with a civilian career. They are not normally kept under arms and their main role is to be available to fight when a nation mobilizes for total war or to defend against invasion...

 to get his college tuition paid; in his final year of college, he was shipped off to Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 where he died from an improvised explosive device

Improvised explosive device

An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...

 attack after only two months of duty.

Music video

The video for the song features the band performing while shots of soldiers and war are shown, as well as plastic soldiers shooting each other.

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
US Mainstream Rock Songs (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... )	27